Tuesday, January 26, 2010

A Compliment

Even though his face looked like this (he tried to clean off his face painting), they still invited Lucas to try out for the competitive gymnastic teams. I think 4 hours a week of gymnastics is too intense, I think it will be better to expose him to a variety of things. Plus the schedule doesn't work for us. But it was still nice to know he is quite good at something and that he is a good listener and very teachable.

What about other kids out there, does anyone spend 4 hours a week doing a sport? Is hockey like that?

5 comments:

I was in gymnastics from the age of 4-12. To say that I loved it is an absolute understatement! The gym I went to asked me a few times throughout those years to go competitive. Mom always left the choice up to me. I knew we probably couldn't afford it (we were a one income family) but that wasn't even why I always turned them down. One class a week was FUN! I looked forward to it and I always practiced at home in between classes but I didn't want my weekly fun to turn into something more like work.At 12, their pestering became too persistent and I eventually gave it up completely. I still miss it to this day! If there had been a way to continue taking gymnastics once a week on a recreational basis, I would probably still be doing it now. It would be my version of "going to the gym".

Hockey is not like that at that age. That's a lot for a 4/5 year old. He might not like it if it's too intense. I don't know for sure if that would happen to him or not. But sometimes kids surprise me and they do exactly the opposite that I think they will. Shocking I know.....Michelle

For us, hockey is somewhat like that here. Kaelen has hockey practice for 2 hours on Monday nights and they wanted the team to do games on the weekends as well, however most of the parents vetoed that because these kids don't know enough to play the game yet. From what I gather, next year only gets more time consuming for hockey with practices on week nights and games on the weekend.

I have heard that soccer is like that now that Kaelen is 5 so we will see .....

And because we both work, we haven't had the opportunity to put Masyn into dance or gymnastics as their practices are during the day. BUT, those are two hours per week day and once you get to the competitive level, you also have practices on the weekend.

I will have to admit that hockey wasn't fun in the beginning, but now that Kaelen knows how to skate, we are hard pressed to get him off the ice after two hours. So, he plays every day on the rink in yard (weather permitting) or take him skating during public times. Essentially, he is skating/playing hockey for up to 8 hours a week at minimum.

I think as long as the kids are having fun and enjoying it, all is good. It is when the coaching staff or parents unknowingly cross that line and the sport becomes pressure and a no fail kind of mentality, is when it becomes shameful.